The present invention relates to seats for use by children in vehicles and, particularly, to seats having child-restraining harness belts and to seats configured to seat older children in a restrained fashion using adult vehicle lap and shoulder belts. More particularly, the present invention relates to a child vehicle seat with a child-restraint harness adjustment mechanism and to a child vehicle seat with a headrest adjustment mechanism.
Many child car seats are formed to include several sets of shoulder belt-receiving apertures in a back wall of the car seat so that the car seat can be adapted by a user to restrain children of different sizes. To accommodate an infant, the two shoulder belts are uncoupled from other portions of the car seat harness, passed through a lowest pair of shoulder belt-receiving apertures formed in the back wall of the car seat, and then recoupled to the car seat harness.
As the infant grows, the caregiver must repeat the belt installation procedure described above using other higher sets of belt-receiving apertures formed in a higher portion of the back wall of the car seat to enlarge the child car seat harness to accommodate the growing child. U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,047 to James M. Kain, which patent is hereby incorporated by reference herein, discloses a car seat that is adaptable to hold infants, toddlers, and juveniles and, in particular, is adaptable to adjust the size of the child-restraint harness quickly and easily to accommodate children of various sizes in the child car seat.
In accordance with the present invention, a child-restraint seat includes a seat shell adapted to seat a child, a child-restraint harness coupled to the seat shell, and a harness-control panel formed to include a belt-receiving opening receiving a shoulder belt portion of the child-restraint harness. The harness-control panel is mounted on the seat shell for up and down movement relative to the seat to raise and lower the shoulder belt portion of the child-restraint harness with respect to a bottom seat portion of the seat so as to harness both small-sized and large-sized children properly in a restrained position in the seat.
The child-restraint seat further includes a panel-height adjustment mechanism coupled to the harness-control panel and provided to move the harness-control panel up and down relative to the seat shell. The panel-height adjustment mechanism includes a handle bar, a belt support bar coupled to the handle bar, and a first and second spring each coupled to the belt support bar and the handle bar. The handle bar includes a first arm coupled to the harness control panel, a second arm spaced-apart from the first arm and coupled to the harness-control panel, and a grip member coupled to and positioned to lie between the first and second arms of the handle bar. The belt support bar is coupled to and positioned to lie between the first and second arms of the handle bar. The belt support bar is also movable in a generally horizontal direction relative to the harness-control panel.
In preferred embodiments, the harness-control panel includes a back plate having a front side and a back side which is positioned to lie adjacent the seat shell. The harness-control panel further includes two posts coupled to the back side of the back plate. Each post forms a cavity for receiving one of the first and second arms of the handle bar therein. Each of the first and second arms, therefore, is positioned to pass through one of two guide slots formed in a back support portion of the seat shell to guide the up and down movement of the harness-control panel and panel-height adjustment mechanism relative to the seat shell.
A middle portion of the first shoulder belt passes through a first slot in the back panel and a matching first channel in the back support portion and connects to the height-adjustment apparatus. Likewise, a middle portion of the second shoulder belt passes through a second slot in the back panel and a matching second channel in the back support portion and connects to the height-adjustment apparatus. By operating the panel height-adjustment mechanism it is possible at the option of a caregiver either to raise the harness-control panel higher above the bottom seat portion, thereby raising the shoulder belts higher so as to accommodate and harness a larger-sized child or to lower the harness-control panel closer to the bottom seat portion, thereby moving the shoulder belts lower so as to accommodate and harness a smaller-sized child.
Additional features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.